Difference between revisions of "Team:WashU StLouis/Hardware"
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| − | <p style="font-size:1.5vw">The Environmental Simulation System (ESS) is a suite of useful unit operations which includes: (1) a lamp producing UV-B radiation; (2) a miniature orbital shaker; and (3) a temperature control system. First, we acquired a reptile lamp (found at a local pet store) which produces a very narrow wavelength of light found within the spectrum of UV-B radiation. We performed a series of experiments to demonstrate the effect of UV exposure under the lamp on DH5α cells.</p> | + | <p style="font-size:1.5vw">The Environmental Simulation System (ESS) is a suite of useful unit operations which includes: (1) a lamp producing UV-B radiation; (2) a miniature orbital shaker; and (3) a temperature control system. By combining these functionalities into an enclosed, table-top system, we were successfully able to create an inexpensive alternative to the traditional incubation chamber required for basic biological work.</p> |
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| + | <p style="font-size: 1.5vw; text-align:center">UV Exposure Lamp</p> | ||
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| + | <p style="font-size:1.5vw">When selecting a method of UV exposure, we had to analyze several types of light sources including simple UV light bulbs and expensive UV LEDs. For our applications we needed a light source that would only emit light in the UV-B spectrum. The vast majority of "UV-B" light sources on the market today expose mostly UV-A or UV-C light, and so we were greatly limited in the devices we could modify for our purposes. We settled on a reptile lamp purchased fro a local pet store. Often used in reptile tanks for household lizards, our lamp First, we acquired a reptile lamp (found at a local pet store) which produces a very narrow wavelength of light found within the spectrum of UV-B radiation. We performed a series of experiments to demonstrate the effect of UV exposure under the lamp on DH5α cells.</p> | ||
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Revision as of 20:27, 1 November 2017
Hardware
The Environmental Simulation System
As we further developed our project, we ran into several issues - the foremost of which was the lack of any equipment in our lab that we could use to test the effectiveness of our modified cells against UV-B radiation. Much of the equipment in lab which utilizes UV radiation does so at the UV-A and UV-C spectrums and not specifically at the relatively narrow range from 285-315 nm. This left us in bit of a pickle: how could we test our cells without our light source specifically emitting UV-B radiation? Our solution was to design a new piece of hardware, which we dubbed the Environmental Simulation System.
The Environmental Simulation System (ESS) is a suite of useful unit operations which includes: (1) a lamp producing UV-B radiation; (2) a miniature orbital shaker; and (3) a temperature control system. By combining these functionalities into an enclosed, table-top system, we were successfully able to create an inexpensive alternative to the traditional incubation chamber required for basic biological work.
UV Exposure Lamp
When selecting a method of UV exposure, we had to analyze several types of light sources including simple UV light bulbs and expensive UV LEDs. For our applications we needed a light source that would only emit light in the UV-B spectrum. The vast majority of "UV-B" light sources on the market today expose mostly UV-A or UV-C light, and so we were greatly limited in the devices we could modify for our purposes. We settled on a reptile lamp purchased fro a local pet store. Often used in reptile tanks for household lizards, our lamp First, we acquired a reptile lamp (found at a local pet store) which produces a very narrow wavelength of light found within the spectrum of UV-B radiation. We performed a series of experiments to demonstrate the effect of UV exposure under the lamp on DH5α cells.
We also constructed a working orbital shaker based on a previously drafted designwhich would allow us to grow liquid cultures outside the 37 degree room while being exposed to UV radiation. Finally, we built a simple temperature control loop into our ESS to incubate our cells at optimal growth temperatures. With this feature combined with our orbital shaker, our Environmental Simulation System has the potential to operate as a tabletop version of the incubation rooms required for any E. Coli or Cyanobacteria labs. Not only is this a remarkable achievement that could be employed by community labs and
